New IGP Islamabad faced with host of challenges

Murders, particularly over land disputes, street crimes and prostitution to test the new ICTP boss

islamabad - Transferred from Punjab to islamabad back in January 2,000 as a young police officer, Sultan Azam Temuri, the new top boss of the islamabad Capital Territory Police, served the capital in an exemplary way on different occasions, demonstrating exceptional commitment to the public service.

He was posted as SP Headquarters, islamabad on January 11, 2000 and the afterward career of around seventeen years and vast experience of policing earned for him the post of igpislamabad on December 8.

The new ICTP boss has served the police departments of Punjab and the federal capital on around two dozen positions and proved himself as one of the best officers the police department ever had. Twice he was part of the UN Peace Keeping Mission in 2,000 and 2,009.

Being part of the islamabad police, Temuri served in security division, headquarters, traffic police, operations division, establishment division, and also in Motorway Police before having been selected as head of the capital police. Raising islamabad Traffic Police was one of the great achievements of Temuri besides introduction of new security measures in the capital city.

Temuri has a lot of challenges ahead as head of the capital police. islamabad is a city of around two million people. Its population is ever-increasing and so the crimes. Murder cases, particularly due to land and property disputes, vehicle theft, street crimes and prostitution are main issues that have ever haunted residents of the city. The city witnessed 115 murders in 2015 and 96 murders in 2016, figures that are not reflective of a peaceful city. The figures also speak louder about how the criminals could easily get weapons and use them against their rivals. There have also been dozens of attempted murder cases in the past two years.

The background interaction with police officials reveal that land and property disputes were behind majority of the murder cases in islamabad . Such disputes used to be frequent in the suburban areas of the city where business of housing societies is booming and the price of land is skyrocketing.

The prices of real estate have been rising fast in islamabad as the rich prefer to live in or invest in the local real estate market. Police stations as Secretariat, Shehzad Town, Sihala, Lohi Bher and Bhara Kahu are hub of such disputes.

Vehicle theft is another challenge facing the new IG islamabad police. Around 369 incidents of car theft in 2015 and 255 in 2016 are not acceptable under any circumstances. In other words, on average, the thieves lifted 21 cars from islamabad limits every month in 2016 besides 179 motorcycles were lifted during the period. The thieves succeeded in stealing 263 motorcycles in 2015, according to the police statistics. Street crimes and robbery incidents are the most common cause of sense of insecurity among the residents. The city registered seventeen such incidents in 2016 and 33 in 2015. On the other hand, street crime is quite frequent in the suburbs of the city.

Street crime can rightly be termed as a benchmark to gauge law and order situation in a city. Unfortunately, the law and order in the city is not appreciable if judged in terms of the street crime. Mobile and purse snatching at gun point is frequent, particularly in the suburban areas, and majority cases are not reported to the police. Prostitution is another issue which needs to be checked. Organised prostitution is prevalent in the posh sectors of the city that cannot be run without police patronage.

Also, police welfare needs to be given special focus so that morale of the force could be boosted. Construction of Police Station at G-10 Markaz and F-6 Markaz is needed to improve policing in the city. Both the projects have been approved and funded but not yet started by executing agencies.

Processing and construction of boundary walls around premises of police barracks at green areas in Sector G-5, Embassy Road, boundary wall of police post in Khanna and boundary wall around the premises of residential police block in Sector G-8/4, police barrack in Sector I-10 and construction of a police station in Lohi Bher need to be accelerated. Similarly, construction of 2,000 flats for accommodation of police personnel at Police Lines, H-11, is awaiting special attention of the high ups of the police department.